Ken Paxton has received another $5 million bump from President Donald Trump’s main political action committee, but the Texas attorney general’s campaign is struggling to close the gap with his rival in the race, James Talarico. According to a filing on Saturday with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), MAGA Inc.—the primary pro-Trump political action committee—contributed another $5 million to Paxton’s campaign. This marks the latest showing of support for Paxton, who has received backing from several GOP-linked groups in recent weeks amid signs of a close contest come November, with NPR reporting that the amount spent on pro-Paxton ads in September totaled over $94 million.
Newsweek has contacted Paxton’s campaign via email for comment. Before becoming the party’s nominee, senior figures within the Republican Party and some of its leading national groups had raised concerns about Paxton’s candidacy and supported his opponent in the primary, incumbent Senator John Cornyn. The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), the Senate campaign arm of the GOP, backed Cornyn and helped fundraise for his campaign.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune endorsed Cornyn over Paxton, calling the former a "principled conservative." Thune later said the party would need to "go all-in" when it came to supporting Paxton and ensuring that the GOP can "keep Texas red." Paxton went on to win the May primary with Trump’s backing, and has since enjoyed significant financial support from the party’s national fundraising network. Prior to the latest $5 million from MAGA Inc., FEC filings show the president’s campaign funding arm poured $10 million into Paxton’s campaign—these donations going to the Virginia-based political communications firm Del Ray Media for campaign ads. Records show that America PAC, the group created by Elon Musk, has also spent over $2 million supporting Paxton’s campaign.
And The Hill reported this week that Paxton received nearly $54 million from a group linked to the Senate Leadership Fund (SLF). "The Republican Party is united to elect Ken Paxton and keep Texas red in November," SLF Executive Director Alex Latcham said in a statement to Politico last week. "Senate Leadership Fund’s investment through Texas PAC affirms our commitment to maintaining the Republican majority and defeating Far-Left liberals like James Talarico." This support appears to have upended the fiscal balance of the Texas Senate race, with Paxton now out-raising his rival despite Talarico’s early lead in this regard.
FEC records show Talarico ended June with $21.5 million in cash on hand—based on around $69 million in total receipts and some $47 million worth of disbursements—compared to only $1.8 million at the same point for Paxton. The recent funding advantage enjoyed by Paxton has not translated into success among potential voters, however. Talarico leads Paxton across all major polls six weeks out from the midterms, with the margins ranging from a healthy advantage for the Democrat to a tighter contest come November 3.
According to those listed by the New York Times, Paxton has not led a poll since an August 9-10 survey from Emerson College—in which he held a 1-point edge—though the pair were neck-and-neck in an August 21-24 survey from Overton Insights. One poll conducted from September 8 to 11 and published this week found that Talarico held a 6-point lead—49 percent to 43 percent—which the ReconMR/Texas Pulse pollsters said was outside their margin of error. An August 18-22 poll from Texas Southern University had Talarico holding significant leads over Paxton in three districts—15, 28 and 34—which President Trump carried by double digits in 2024.
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